The DEA’s counterproductive plan to combat Mexican cartels

An article in Salon published yesterday went over some interesting “adventures in drug war logic.”

Basically there are two examples of two counterproductive ideals of the DEA in combating Mexican drug cartels.

For the past little while, the DEA has been running undercover money laundering operations in hopes that they will eventually lead to a cartel’s senior members. “One D.E.A. official said it was not unusual for American agents to pick up two or three loads of Mexican drug money each week.” To clarify, the American government is dedicating their resources to aiding drug cartels in laundering possibly millions of dollars in drug/blood money and thus increasing the cartel’s strength and ability, with the hope that they will be lead to a senior member. Once this member is found, of course, the cartel will cease to operate, and the drug problem in Mexico will be solved.

Most who have considered the subject, though, will have seriously considered the positive effects of legalizing marijuana. One of those people is former border patrol agent Bryan Gonzalez, who mentioned to a colleague that legalization would likely lead to less violence. He was subsequently fired for holding, “personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”

The logic here is clearly fucked, and for some reason, though being apparent to everyone else involved, it still isn’t apparent to the Americans that a solution to this problem can’t cater only to the needs of Americans.